Clay Buchholz is back on track as Red Sox avoid getting swept

AP Photo/Michael DwyerBoston Red Sox's Clay Buchholz pitches in the first inning of a baseball game against the Baltimore Orioles in Boston, Thursday, June 7, 2012.

BOSTON - Don't look now, but Clay Buchholz is returning to the form the Red Sox expected of him.

Saddled with the worst ERA among starting pitchers in the majors a month ago, the right-hander handcuffed the Baltimore Orioles in a four-hit, 7-0 complete-game victory that kept the O's from sweeping the three-game series.

"I feel good. There's nothing to make me not feel that way,'' said Buchholz (6-2), who allowed only one hit after the third inning.

Adrian Gonzalez had three hits for the Red Sox, who had a six-run lead after three innings.

Buchholz struck out six. His only walk came in the ninth, and he hit two batters as he logged his third career complete-game shutout - all against Baltimore.

Foremost was his 2007 no-hitter. He was not quite so dominant this time, but he was masterful, nonetheless.

"I don't know - the Orioles gave it to me pretty good the last two times I faced them,'' Buchholz said.

In two previous starts against the O's this year, he had allowed 10 runs and 13 hits in nine innings. One start lasted 3 2/3 innings in a game Boston lost in 17.

This time, he helped the Red Sox break the Orioles' string of seven straight wins at Fenway Park.

It was Boston's longest home losing streak against the Baltimore franchise since a 10-game skid in 1906, when the current O's were the St. Louis Browns.

The Orioles never gave themselves a chance in this one. Left-hander Brian Matusz lasted only 67 pitches, and the Orioles hit into three double plays.

Buchholz made an error, but the Red Sox defense was otherwise excellent.

"It's good when you give up something you think is a hit and it turns into an out,'' Buchholz said.

"Daniel Nava has made four or five good plays in left in the last couple of weeks when I've been pitching.''

Buchholz lowered his ERA to 5.77, down from 9.09 after his first six starts.

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In his last six, he is 3-1 with a 3.10 ERA. His first complete game of the season was Boston's third, with Jon Lester getting the other two for the Sox.

"After my first three starts, my ERA didn't matter. I didn't quit, and I kept just trying to win games for our team,'' Buchholz said.

Interestingly, he was 3-1 during his first six starts that were poor, and is 3-1 in his stretch of six good ones.

It's still much better this way. Buchholz has pitched 24 innings in his last three games, a total of 344 pitches that included 125 Thursday - the second highest pitch count of his career.

He has now gone eight innings in back-to-back starts for the first time in his career. Buchholz has 19 strikeouts and a 1.50 ERA in his last three starts.

"My last three have been good, but there are still things I can do better. That's what we'll be looking into over the next four or five days,'' Buchholz said.

Bobby Valentine had so much faith that he did not have a reliever warm up until Andrew Miller in the ninth.

Buchholz has made adjustments to his changeup, which has always been his best pitch.

"My grip had been a little off. I freed it up a little bit,'' he said.

"I'll still spike some or let some go, but not nearly as much.''

Buchholz finished the eighth at 111 pitches. That number matched his season high, established on two occasions.

This was Boston's third shutout of the season, but it's first of the complete game variety. No Red Sox pitcher had thrown a complete game shutout since Josh Beckett did it on June 15, 2011.

Beckett also last the last complete-game shutout at Fenway. That came nearly three years ago in July of 2009.

Still in last place, the Red Sox moved back above .500 at 29-28 and snapped a three-game losing streak. They closed to within three games of the Orioles, who began the night in first place in the AL East.

"They're a good lineup. There's a reason they're where they are,'' Buchholz said of the Orioles.

Kevin Youkilis went 2-for-4 to raise his average to .246. He is hitting .280 since coming off the disabled list for back problems.

Gonzalez drove in two runs and raised his average 12 points to .272. He had been a tepid .258 over his previous 16 games.

Nava had two hits and is hitting a crisp .308 since his callup a month ago.

He also carved a place in Red Sox history. According to available records that date back to 1920, this is the first time the Red Sox have won all of a player's first seven career starts in the leadoff spot.

They won their first seven with Rickey Henderson leading off in 2002, but those were only Henderson's first leadoff starts with Boston, not the first of his career at the top of the order.

The previous Red Sox record for consecutive wins as a leadoff man for the first time in the majors was six by Steve Lyons in 1985. Nava did his part Thursday, reaching base four times.

But the most encouraging part of the night belonged to Buchholz. When he was struggling, Valentine expressed confidence by saying he never gives up on a player until it looks as if the player has given up on himself.

Buchholz did not succumb, and the Red Sox are enjoying the dividends now. His next start with come at Miami in an interleague game next week.